


Exchange of Ritual

by aurumdalseni (kyo_chan)



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: M/M, Shendak, shendak valentines, this is literal fluff with a side of feelings, valentines day exchange
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-03
Updated: 2019-03-03
Packaged: 2019-11-08 17:39:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,403
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17985689
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kyo_chan/pseuds/aurumdalseni
Summary: It's Sendak's first time celebrating the Earth holiday, Valentine's Day, and he still doesn't really understand it. But he has Shiro, and he'll do the best he can to make sure Shiro understands how important he is.





	Exchange of Ritual

**Author's Note:**

  * For [dragonryder94](https://archiveofourown.org/users/dragonryder94/gifts).



> This is my super late gift for our Shendak server Valentine's Day Exchange. Life has been kicking my tail, but here comes a chunk of good fluff and feelings to celebrate the day. Hope you enjoy!

“I still don’t understand,” Sendak says, his brow furrowed as he cradles a wine glass in one hand. 

Shiro could watch the lazy swirl of red and the roll of his wrist all night, but he draws his gaze up to Sendak’s face instead. “Valentine’s Day?”

“Yes.”

Shiro leans in a little, smiling. Explaining human customs is another of his favorite things, even when Sendak gets frustrated at the pointlessness of some of them. It would seem this is one of those times. “It’s…think of it like a holiday. We like to have a day where we treat our partners to special things because we love them.”

Sendak’s ear flicks. He’s still learning love. Shiro takes it all in, the hesitant acceptance of the word, his intense focus. “Do you need a single day to do such a thing?”

“Nah,” Shiro laughs, “but we like our Hallm— our excuses to make special days for normal things.” 

Sendak regards Shiro with a thoughtful look while taking another sip of his wine. Shiro’s pleased to have found a drink Sendak likes without him wrinkling his nose in distaste. Though that’s pretty precious in itself… “And those strangely shaped red and pink things that are all over the place for weeks before the event, that is also to commemorate this…special day?”

“Those are hearts, and yes.” It’s getting harder and harder not to laugh, but Shiro’s doing his very best.

He’s doomed to fail the moment Sendak snorts and sets his glass down to gesture in that way that indicates the foolishness of humans. “They look nothing like hearts. And correct me if I’m wrong, but do your minds not conjure up emotions? The heart functions as a—”

“Sendak. Babe.” The words come out as more of a chuckle than speech, halting Sendak’s impending explanation into basic medical knowledge. “You’re being too literal, and it’s really taking me out of this romantic moment we’re trying to have.” 

It isn’t, but he’d rather spend time drinking wine and sitting in Sendak’s lap than debate which part of his body controls how much he’s grown to love this very specific, large alien commander. He shifts his position in the nest so he can climb up onto Sendak’s thighs, calming the rumble of protest from his partner with way he leans in to rest against his chest. 

“Shiro…”

Shiro reaches up to stroke the sides of Sendak’s face, feeling the softness of his fur sliding between the fingers of his left hand. “Listen, you’re right, okay? I don’t need a specific day to be your mate. That’s who I am every day, yours, and I’m always going to find a way to make sure you don’t forget it. But you know what’s great about a day like today?”

Sendak huffs softly; Shiro wants to kiss him. “What?”

“Even if some people don’t celebrate it, they know it’s there. So when I tuck myself away with you, spending this time together, it’s like I can use the day to remind everyone you’re mine. That’s just how it is.”

Sendak winds his arm around Shiro’s waist, tugging him in closer, nuzzling into the side of his jaw. “Mine,” he growls in return.

“That’s more like it,” Shiro hums. 

Unwilling to let this excuse to pamper Sendak slip away, he digs his fingers in a little more into Sendak’s fur, starting to rub under his ears and the nape of his neck, alternating between scratching and kneading. He listens for the subtle shift in Sendak’s tones from annoyed rumble to pleased purring, smiling proudly even though Sendak can’t see it. Shiro had been a little guilty that the most he could do is order takeout from Hunk and provide the wine, but it’s truly better for everyone — especially himself and the kitchen — if he doesn’t try to cook. With both of them fed and warmed by the wine, Shiro can do the things he’s much better at. Inspiring Sendak to become a comfortably thrumming piece of heated furniture is a skill he’s honed in quite well, if he does say so himself.

“Mmm…Shiro,” Sendak bumps his cheek with his own, getting his attention. “I do have something for you.”

Shiro’s hands pause, coming to rest on Sendak’s shoulders. He tilts his head. “For me?”

“It’s part of the ritual, isn’t it?”

Shiro is utterly charmed by the idea that Sendak now considers Valentine’s Day a ritual. “Yes, but I didn’t…”

“You provided the feast and the drink. It is enough. Now, you will allow me to do my part.”

“Yes, sir.” Shiro can’t help the fond smile already pulling at his lips, though now he’s extremely curious.

Sendak shifts, holding Shiro in place on his lap with one arm while rustling within the linens of their massive nest. He procures a pouch and frees up both hands to open it. Something bright and prismatic in the dim light catches Shiro’s gaze, but he doesn’t get the chance to ask about it before Sendak lifts it by a cord of leather and slips the loop around Shiro’s neck. 

Shiro’s eyes widen. He searches Sendak’s face, which is surprisingly void of most expression, but the way he looks back at his partner clearly indicates he’s waiting for Shiro’s approval of the gift. He picks up the pendant delicately, cradling it in his palm, looking down at it. At first, he thinks it might be a tooth, but there are a series of very subtle ridges he can feel with the pad of his thumb, a gentle curve to the piece. A horn of some sort? It glitters with fractured color, reminding him of an opal with the way it shifts hues depending on how he turns it to the light. 

“There is a tradition among the Galra, though few practice it now. Young cubs are taken to a planet where the creatures with these horns are hunted. They are fierce, formidable beasts, and we are allowed simple weapons and our wits to hunt them, nothing more. It is a rite of passage to fell one of these creatures, and the horn is the prize. It is only the tip that bears this shape and color; the rest of it is as black as the night. We are meant to gift this to our chosen mate.”

He doesn’t elaborate much beyond that. Shiro knows that it’s meant to be his, and they have been living their lives as  _ mine _ and  _ yours _ for months now. But this feels like more, a promise in Galran that he is Sendak’s and that Sendak has given himself and this precious gift to him. It makes his throat tight, he doesn’t think he could find the right words even if he tried. But he can’t leave Sendak unanswered.

Shiro starts with a soft, “Thank you,” because he’s truly honored, but that doesn’t feel like enough. Nothing he can say will really ever be enough. “I’m proud to be yours. This is…it means…” He leans up, pressing his mouth to Sendak’s in a kiss that will have to suffice in place of speech. All the words he can conjure up in the most necessary of times are nowhere to be found here. 

Sendak is still adjusting to kisses, but as if he knows what Shiro is trying to convey, he does his best to return the gesture, feeling in the lack of his experience with the purr Shiro knows very well by now. Shiro presses against him, fingers tangling in Sendak’s fur, trying not to think about the heat and tears on his cheeks. 

“Thank you,” he says against Sendak’s mouth. “I thought you didn’t understand Valentine’s Day.” He can’t help but try and back away from the way his heart hammers in his chest with some levity. 

“That doesn’t make me incapable of grasping the ritual itself,” Sendak replies, lapping gently at Shiro’s cheeks to comfort him. “Perhaps one day, your customs will make more sense, but for now I’ll make do.”

“It’ll be pretty hard to top your first Valentine’s Day after this.”

“I accept your challenge,” Sendak says with conviction. 

Shiro can’t help but think Sendak is taking him literally again, and that he’ll have to wait a whole year to find out how Sendak is going to beat the gift like this. 

He’s not entirely sorry, and very much looking forward to it.

**Author's Note:**

> You can come yell at me about Shendak on tumblr


End file.
